The Daily Star Editorial

The day is Jan. 25. Thousands of young Egyptians gather in front of Cairo’s Interior Ministry headquarters to voice their disapproval of police brutality in their country. United by a common wish for greater freedom and an end to decades long oppression, more and more join the movement heading to Tahrir Square that eventually leads to the toppling of Hosni Mubarak and gives millions of Egyptians cause to believe again in their country’s potential.

Fast forward six months. Protesters clash with police outside Cairo’s Defense Ministry, angry at the delay in prosecuting the fallen dictator. But the nature of demonstrations has shifted. The unity embodied by those who took to the streets to win the admiration of the world in January has vanished.

Widespread protest and counter-protest continues to disrupt the lives of ordinary Egyptians. Disappointingly, a single goal has been exploited by groups motivated by political and religious gain to bring the country to the brink of the economic abyss. Tourism, once the mainstay of the country’s revenue, has all but dried up, and the military council and latest civic administration struggle to react to the ever-changing and often contradictory demands of several different parties.

The number of Egyptians falling beneath the breadline is increasing, the gap between wealthy and destitute widening. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
Saddled as it is with remnants of years of administrative corruption and ineptitude, Egypt has almost insurmountable problems throughout its society, and it would be naïve and even reckless to think they were all solvable simply through prolonged popular protest. Egypt’s economic and social woes, plainly, need legislative attention.

There is no doubt that the military council and successive post-Mubarak Cabinets have made errors, but they are hardly being given the chance to make good on pledges to clean up the country, hampered as they continue to be at each turn by people on the streets voicing their ever-evolving distaste.
At the same time, the breakdown in protester unity has revealed the abiding truism of the North African state: that Egypt’s society has always contained deep rifts. Differences of opinion are unavoidable – desirable even, if the country is to make the successful transition to functioning democracy – but now is not the time to push individual agendas.

The togetherness of the people was the sole reason the campaign to get rid of Mubarak proved successful. It is to be lamented that, in just six months, many seem to have forgotten that.
If Egyptians are serious about making their country a better place, then the administrations tasked with handling the transition must be given a chance to prove their worth. It is to be hoped that protest movements recall the unity of that January evening. It is the only way to avert a permanent winter.